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Diaspora homecomings can backfire | Khaled
Diab
by Khaled Diab (Hija del Zion
para Israel - Daughter of Zion
for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:59:32 AM
A return to an ancestral homeland is
a dream that’s long inspired diasporas
– often with troubling results
The Zionist vision of a “return” to
the promised land has been both a
dream come true and a nightmare.
But Jews are not the only scattered
and oppressed group of people who
have entertained sentimental dreams
of a triumphant return to their
ancestral homelands. For instance, a
similar situation once existed for
Greeks. Like the Jews, Greeks had
not possessed an independent
homeland since Roman times and
counted a sizeable diaspora across the
Roman empire and its successors,
right up to Ottoman times.
This diaspora played a central role in
the creation of the modern Greek
state by raising funds and awareness
abroad – for example, through the
Filiki Eteria(“Society of Friends”), a
secret society set up in Odessa
(Ukraine) in 1814. However, unlike
in Palestine where Jews represented a
tiny minority of the population,
historic Greece was still largely
populated by Greek speakers (albeit
of bastardised regional dialects) who
were able, with the support of the
diaspora and European sympathisers (
Philhellenics like Lord Byron), to
throw off the yoke of Ottoman rule
rapidly.
Just as Zionism sought to unite all
the Jewish peoples in a single
homeland, the Megali Idea(the “Great
Idea”) aimed to unite the
“unredeemed” Greeks of the Ottoman
empire in a single country. This
culminated, after the first world war,
in the modern world’s first large-
scale compulsory“population
exchange” which ethnically cleansed
Turkey of its Greek Orthodox
population and Greece of its Muslim
population, robbing two million
people of their homes and livelihoods
and bringing to an end centuries of
cultural and religious diversity.
7/1/2010 at 11:56:00 PM - 7/2/2010 at 11:57:50 AM
But it’s not just Greeks and Jews
who have dreamed of turning back
the clock and returning to Zion or
Olympia. Across the Atlantic, the
idea of a “return to Africa” has a long
pedigree among descendants of
African slaves in the Americas,
although few of them could say with
any confidence precisely where
“home” for them is. So, Africa as a
whole has become their “Zion”. This
is quite literally so for Rastafarians
who believe that they will one day
escape their Babylonian captivity
(western society) and return to Zion
(Africa) and its capital, New
Jerusalem ( Lalibela, with its
beautiful churches hewn out of the
rock, in Ethiopia).
In the 19th century, some wealthy
African Americans, like Paul Cuffee,
became convinced – as Theodor
Herzl later would regarding European
Jews – that the only way for blacks in
America to gain salvation and
overcome the burden of racism and
the legacy of their enslavement was
to “return” to their ancestral
homelands.
Just as Zionism would later be
supported by both European
antisemites who saw the creation of a
homeland for the Jews as the optimal
solution to the “Jewish problem” and
European Judeophiles who were
inspired by the romantic redemptive
power of a return to ancestral lands,
many racists supported the “Back to
Africa” ideal as a solution to the
“black problem”, or as a way of
emancipating and empowering
poverty-stricken and marginalised
African diasporas.
Both currents can be seen at play in
the creation of Sierra Leone (created
by British philanthropists to resettle
London’s black poor) and Liberia
(created by American slaveholders
and philanthropists). Although they
may have shared similar skin tones,
these western implants pitted black
colonists against the indigenous
populations, who felt discriminated
against and marginalised on their
native lands.
So, why does the dream of
“returning” to an ancestral homeland
carry such appeal across such diverse
cultural and geographical boundaries?
I imagine that the draw is partly
nostalgic, the kind of romanticising of
an idyllic past that so many of us
humans are prone to. As someone
who has spent three-fifths of his life
outside his native land, I don’t feel a
particular nostalgia or sentimentality
towards my homeland. As I grow to
feel more and more like a global
citizen, I find the notion of
nationalism increasingly mystifying
and narrow-minded.
However, I have the advantage of not
being stateless or the member of a an
oppressed or persecuted group, and I
speak from the comfortable vantage
point of having a fairly clear-cut core
national identity, and a clear home
base to which I can flee if ever the
need arises.
All the examples above, despite their
diversity, share certain features in
common. One is the inferior status of
these groups in the societies in which
they lived or live – which not only
made them vulnerable to persecution
but also lowered their self-esteem.
Another factor is utopian thinking:
made to feel somehow sub-human by
their host cultures and excluded from
many areas of power and polite
society, diaspora groups often
entertain the belief that if they ran
their own country they would be
better off and could even surpass the
society which puts them down or
persecutes them.
So, is this kind of “return” a good
solution to the problems faced by
marginalised diasporas?
The trouble with attempts like these
to turn back the clock is that time
moves on, rendering the distance
between dream and reality very
significant. Most modern projects to
“return” to an ancestral homeland or
to create a homeland for a particular
group, such as Pakistan for Indian
Muslims, have resulted in enormous
human dislocation, suffering and
death.
This is not to question the right of
any of these states to exist today (and
feedjournal.
those that reject this right, as say
some Arabs do vis-à-vis Israel, are
also futilely trying to turn back the
clock to a past that no longer exists)
but merely to highlight that, when
local populations are not taken into
account, efforts to “return home” can
bear a striking resemblance to
colonialism, with the once-oppressed
playing the role of oppressors.
And it is the contemporary remnants
of this colonial legacy that need to be
dismantled if a more just future is to
be created.
• Middle East
• Israel
• Greece
• Judaism
• Islam
• Turkey
• Palestinian territories
Khaled Diab
guardian.co.uk© Guardian News &
Media Limited 2010 | Use of this
content is subject to our Terms &
Conditions| More Feeds
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Original post source
2 FeedJournal Basic
Jerusalem, my new home
by Harriet Sherwood (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/1/2010 11:59:32 PM
The Guardian’s new Jerusalem
correspondent gives her first
impressions of the bitterly divided yet
beautiful city
There is a point on a hill looking out
over Jerusalem, right on the 1948
armistice line, known as the
Promenade, where both Jewish and
Arab families can be found
picnicking in the warmth of the late
afternoon sun. It’s a good spot.
Straight ahead is the Old City, the
honey stones of its walls absorbing
and reflecting the sun’s rays. The
golden Dome of the Rock, the
revered and iconic Muslim site from
where the Prophet Mohammed began
his ascent to heaven, gleams high
above the Wailing (or Western) Wall,
the equally revered and iconic Jewish
site where the devout bury prayers in
the cracks between stones and mourn
the destruction of their ancient
temple.
To the left is modern West
Jerusalem, green with trees and parks,
whose towering cranes indicate the
development of another luxury hotel
or smart shopping mall. To the right
is parched and dusty East Jerusalem,
the Arab part of the city that is now
dotted with Jewish settlements. Here
and there you can glimpse sections of
the bleak 8m-high concrete wall –
slicing through Arab neighbourhoods,
cutting roads down the middle,
dividing neighbour from neighbour –
which has become a symbol of the
division and conflict that
characterises Jerusalem.
Spread out before me is the city that
will be my home for the next few
years: the most divided city in the
world, the epicentre of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, a city claimed by
both sides as their capital and their
historic right. It is also the most awe-
inspiring and beautiful city I have
ever been to, central to the three great
monotheistic religions of Islam,
Judaism and Christianity and where
the centuries of history, sacredness
and violent discord still weigh in the
air.
Up here on the Promenade, a few
weeks into my new life as the
Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent,
I try to untangle the medley of
impressions that have crowded into
my head. Making sense of this place
won’t be easy – I know from previous
visits that it’s contentious, confusing,
exhilarating and exhausting; that just
when you think you understand it a
little better, something happens that
makes you realise you understand it
less than ever.
As I leave the Promenade I’m
surprised to come across a
“monument to tolerance” – a quality
that does not seem to be in abundant
supply in this city. The sculpture,
depicting two halves of a broken
column linked and shaded by an olive
tree, is dedicated to a peaceful
resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. Not for the first time, I feel a
sense of unreality.
Just past the sculpture, a huge
roadside hoarding advertises the new
Jewish settlement of Nof Zion, built
illegally on territory that Israel
occupied and annexed in 1967. The
smart apartments, largely complete
though far from fully occupied, have
sensational views across to the Old
City. Pleasant landscaping marks out
the settlement: newly planted
saplings, decorative iron railings, a
children’s playground.
As I continue down the hill,
something curious happens. The
pavement abruptly ends, the road
becomes potholed, the street lighting
sporadic, the rubbish uncollected. It’s
like going from a first world country
to a developing country in the space
of a few metres and without any
formal demarcation. Goodbye, planet
Israel; welcome to Arab East
Jerusalem.
That fundamental divide is the
defining characteristic of this place.
But, as I am soon discovering,
Jerusalem is not just divided into two,
but into multiple, complex layers.
In my first week, I get lost in my car
trying to find a downtown cafe where
I am to meet a man about –
prosaically – my worldly goods, stuck
on the dock in Ashdod. In impossibly
narrow backstreets, where nervously
and repeatedly I’m forced to reverse
and perform multiple-point turns, I
encounter visibly poor Jewish
children whose parents yell and
gesticulate admonitions, the precise
details of which I can’t understand
but whose universality is clear.
A few days later I meet a charming
and sophisticated middle-aged
Palestinian woman who shows me
round her neighbourhood, dressed in
white jeans and jewelled sandals,
offering asides in flawless English on
her latest divorce and recent trip to
Paris.
Impoverished Israelis and affluent
Palestinians challenge stereotypical
expectations, but they don’t mask the
city’s central breach. While the
nationalistic, political and religious
divide seems as unbridgeable as ever,
the geographical separation is
blurring, to the detriment of the
Palestinians.
They are bitter about what they
describe as the “Judaisation” of East
Jerusalem. Ever since the six day war
in 1967, when Israel forcibly took
control of the Arab sector, successive
governments have pursued a policy of
building settlements in the east,
creating a Jewish ring around the city,
cutting off Palestinians in the West
Bank from Jerusalem and making an
East Jerusalem capital an unrealisable
dream.
Some of the settlements are huge.
Ma’ale Adumim, home to almost
40,000 Israelis, is a mini-city in its
own right. It feels like an enormous
American gated community
transported to the Middle East.
Lavish municipal flowerbeds are
tended and watered by Palestinian
gardeners; there are 40 synagogues
and seven high schools; huge areas of
nearby land spreading towards the
Palestinian city of Jericho are
earmarked for expansion. Like most
settlements, it’s built on a hill with
commanding views and dominance
over Palestinian villages in the
valleys.
But some of the most recent
settlements are tiny – for now. Rather
than new towns complete with
service infrastructure, they are the
first toe-holds of what these
fundamentalist settlers hope will
grow into a permanent presence – and
they are right in the heart of
Jerusalem, as opposed to on its
outlying hills.
In Sheikh Jarrah– a historic
Palestinian neighbourhood where
many of the spacious stone villas,
draped with gorgeous bougainvillea,
have been leased to foreign
consulates and NGOs – a number of
families have been evicted from
modest homes assigned to them by
the UN in 1948. Settler groups
wanting to establish a presence there
have brought legal challenges –
through the Israeli courts, of course –
to the ownership rights and turfed the
families out.
Among a jumble of homes, I find a
few proudly – and provocatively –
flying Israeli flags. New paving
stones have been laid outside the
front door; wall-mounted cameras
monitor passersby; security men sit in
booths, refusing to answer questions
about who pays their wages. These
are now Jewish homes, but the
occupants, glimpsed through the
windows, are reluctant to engage in
conversation about their presence in
an Arab neighbourhood.
The evicted families, who spend
their days on a battered sofa and
cracked plastic chairs in the shade of
a tree on Sheikh Jarrah street, have no
such reticence. Pouring glasses of
chilled water for their hot and thirsty
visitors, their voluble bitterness at
their sudden homelessness does not
eclipse their charm and hospitality.
These unwilling neighbours eye each
other with mutual hostility and
incomprehension.
A short distance away is the Old
City, 800 square metres of packed
winding alleys just on the eastern side
of the Green Line, where young
Palestinian men barrel their way
through the crowds delivering goods
on handcarts to shops outside which
an older generation sits on stools
sipping tiny porcelain cups of strong
sludgy Arabic coffee or glasses of
sweet mint tea.
Thirty-seven thousand people live in
the Old City, making it one of the
most densely populated places on
earth. Thousands more come to work,
worship and wonder. The sound of
the muezzin – the Muslim call to
prayer – mixes with church bells,
chants and song. Greek orthodox
clerics brush past Catholic nuns; Jews
stride through the souks on their way
to pray at the Western Wall; Muslims
flock to the magnificent mosques at
Haram al-Sharif in the south-eastern
corner, known to Jews as the Temple
Mount.
Here, too, Israeli flags are
increasingly hung in the Muslim
quarter as Jewish families take over
Palestinian homes. The tension is
often palpable, and the presence of
young Israeli border police with rifles
slung over their shoulders on almost
every corner only adds to the uneasy
mix.
It’s hard to see how Jerusalem can be
unscrambled; how the Palestinians
can ever regain a definable half of the
city as the capital of any future state.
That, of course, is Israel’s intention in
building and encouraging settlements
both big and small in the eastern
sector; it claims Jerusalem as its
“indivisible and eternal capital” and
is creating facts on the ground to
make its claim a reality. Forty-five
per cent of the population of the
eastern half of the city is now Jewish,
I’m told by the Jerusalem Institute.
But the city is changing in other
ways, too. In a separate dimension
from the Arab-Israeli, Muslim-Jew
divide is an increasing gulf between
Jew and Jew – the religious and the
secular. The ultra-orthodox – or
Haredim– community is growing,
both absolutely and in proportion to
secular Jews, many of whom are
packing up and heading off to the
more relaxed and liberal coastal
towns and cities. The ultra-orthodox
made up about 10% of Jerusalem’s
population in the 1960s; now they are
around a third.
A political scientist from Jerusalem’s
Hebrew University told me that the
secular-religious divide was the new
“culture war”. The ultra-orthodox
were seen as “parasites”, he said, for
their refusal to do paid work,
devoting themselves to biblical study.
These people have six, seven, eight
children, another Israeli analyst told
me. They have changed the
atmosphere in Jerusalem, he went on;
people are afraid they are taking over.
I was taken aback at the enmity with
which both men spoke.
Traditionally the ultra-orthodox have
been based around Mea Shearim, an
area of the city centre redolent of pre-
Holocaust eastern Europe. Whole
families walk together beneath
washing hanging from the balconies
of dilapidated buildings: women with
hair covered by scarves or wigs,
wearing thick dark stockings despite
the June heat; men in their monotone
ultra-orthodox uniform; children
dressed as miniature versions of their
parents clinging to adult hands or
JERUSALEM, page 4
FeedJournal Basic 3

More about Fenton the lefty PR firm doing a

new anti Israel campaign
by NoahDavidSimon (Hija del hormone to be safe. Ben & Jerry’s ice
Zion para Israel - Daughter of cream manufacturers stood to gain
Zion for Israel) from the bad press aimed at the dairy
industry because their ice cream was
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:00:00 AM made with hormone-free milk.
more info about Fenton Joining forces with the
“Reading about MoveOn.org’s huge Environmental Working Group, FC
discount on their New York Times ad has also engineered media campaigns
makes me wonder if Shellenberger exaggerating the dangers posed by
had access to that kind of discount… pesticides in tap water and baby food.
According to Abbe Serphos, director In 2003 FC created an ad campaign
of public relations for the Times, “the targeting the automotive industry for
open rate for an ad of that size and the Evangelical Environmental
type is $181,692.” Network. The controversial ads
A spokesman for MoveOn.org alleged that consumers who bought
confirmed to The Post that the liberal sport utility vehicles were, in effect,
activist group had paid only $65,000 supporting terrorism by using large
for the ad – a reduction of more than amounts of fuel imported from the
$116,000 from the stated rate.” Middle East.
From watch paul FC partnered with the Command
“ Trust Network, a support group of
• Foremost public relations firm of activists and personal injury lawyers
the political left that opposes silicone breast implants.
• Past clients have included Marxist In a 2003 press release, FC
dictatorships in Central America misrepresented the findings of a
• Represents environmentalist scientific study by suggesting that
groups, pro-Democratic political such implants posed proven health
action committees, labor unions, and risks. The campaign was damaging to
the anti-war movement implant manufacturers; the following
• Launched misleading media year a federal court concluded that
campaigns against Alar and silicone scientific evidence did not support
breast implants Fenton’s claims.
In 2004 Wangari Maathai, a Nobel
Founded in 1982 by activist and Peace Prize winner and
public relations veteran David environmental activist, retained
Fenton, Fenton Communications (FC) Fenton’s services during a speaking
is the leading advertising and public tour of the U.S.
relations firm for advocacy groups on During the 2004 U.S. presidential
the political left, with locations in election season, FC helped the pro-
Washington DC, New York, and San Democrat activist group MoveOn.org
Francisco. stage its “ Vote for Change” tour.
FC serves as an “umbrella” for “ This initiative combined musical acts
three independent nonprofit (such as Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M.,
$100,000 annually for three years NRDC’s study of Alar, itself based
organizations” which it co-founded. Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, Jackson
from contracts with Sandinista on exaggerated probabilities rather
These include: Environmental Media Browne, Bonnie Raitt, John
authorities. than concrete empirical data, FC
Services, which manages publicity Mellencamp, and the Dixie Chicks)
FC also conducted publicity launched a media campaign that
efforts for environmental groups; with leftist advocacy groups like
campaigns on behalf of Grenada’s stoked consumers’ fears and captured
New Economy Communications, a MoveOn and America Coming
Marxist dictator Maurice Bishop and the interest of television news
social justice group; and the Death Together, and opposed the reelection
El Salvador’s Marxist-Leninist programs, daily newspapers and
Penalty Information Center, an anti- of George W. Bush.
guerrilla organization, the FMLN. daytime talk shows, fueling a
death penalty lobby. (Trevor S. Fitzgibbon, FC’s Director
Another FC client was Jennifer backlash against apple growers. By
FC expressly refuses to represent of Media Relations, assists in public
Harbury, a far-left attorney and some estimates, the apple industry
“clients and projects that we don’t relations strategy for MoveOn.org,
activist who charged that her suffered $200 million in lost revenue
believe in ourselves.” Among the the MoveOn.org Voter Fund, and
husband, a Marxist guerrilla in as a result of the FC campaign.
clients and projects that FC has Win Without War. According to FC,
Guatemala, had been killed with the By contrast, FC and its client
worked for are Marxist-Leninist ”Fitzgibbon’s messaging and PR
complicity of the CIA. prospered. David Fenton
regimes in Central America and efforts on behalf of MoveOn.org have
In Africa, FC signed on to represent subsequently boasted that his firm
Africa, environmental groups, labor helped position the online advocacy
Angola’s MPLA regime, a Soviet had “designed” the media campaign
unions, and anti-war organizations. In group as a national political force in
puppet state. When anti-MPLA rebel “so that revenue would flow back to
addition, FC has offered its services American life.”)
leader Jonas Savimibi visited the NRDC from the public,” noting that
to pro- Democrat political action In 2004 FC coordinated the efforts of
United States in mid-1980s, FC, FC had gained “$700,000 in net
committees and law firms, as well as its then-newest client, the anti-war
working for the Angolan government, revenues from it.” Fenton
to political campaigns against the group September 11th Families for
placed ads in the New York Times Communications today cites the Alar
death penalty and gun-ownership Peaceful Tomorrows, to oppose
and other leading newspapers campaign as a significant contribution
rights. President Bush’s bid for re-election.
denouncing him as “South Africa’s to the “national debate” on pesticides.
Throughout the 1980s, FC That same year, FC became a leading
secret agent.” Such fear-mongering has also
represented a number of Marxist public-relations conduit for Cindy
Equally noteworthy has been FC’s worked for ice cream producers Ben
governments and their supporters. Sheehan, who founded the anti-war
business partnership with & Jerry’s, another client of FC.
Most prominent among these was the group Gold Star Families for Peace.
environmental groups. In 1988 and Starting with a series of press
Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, In 2005 FC did some work for Win
1989, FC helped one such conferences in the late 1990s, the FC-
which the firm defended against Without War. And in an effort to
organization, the Natural Resources founded Environmental Media
foreign criticism while casting its influence the 2006 midterm elections
Defense Council(NRDC), promote Services promoted claims that a
internal opponents — the Contra in favor of Democrats, the firm
misleading claims about the dangers hormone given to dairy cows to
guerrillas — as “death squads.”
of Alar, a pesticide then in use by the produce milk could cause cancer, MORE page 5
David Fenton acknowledged earning
apple industry. On the basis of though the FDA had found the
4 FeedJournal Basic
Methodists vote for settlements boycott | Karen
Burke
by Karen Burke (Hija del Zion
para Israel - Daughter of Zion
for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 2:30:36 AM
The Methodist conference has voted
for a boycott on good produced in
illegal Israeli settlements
The Methodist Church voted on
Wednesday to boycott products from
Israeli settlements recognised as
illegal under international law at its
annual Conference in Portsmouth. It
took the decision following a call
from a group of Palestinian
Christians, a number of Jewish
organisations, both within Israel and
worldwide, and the World Council of
Churches.
In December, the Department for
Environment food and Rural Affairs
introduced new advice on food
labelling, recommending that the
packaging of products imported from
the West Bank should distinguish
between Palestinian areas and Israeli
settlements. The former President of
the Methodist Church, Revd David
Gamble, wrote to major supermarket
chains earlier this year to ask how
they labelled their food. Many of the
responses he received explained that
processes were already in place to
label products accurately or that
processes were being put in place.
The European Court of Justice has
ruled that imports from Israeli
settlements in the occupied West
Bank should not benefit from a trade
JERUSALEM,
continued from page 2
hanging on to a younger sibling’s
pushchair.
Anyone foolish enough to drive
through there on Shabat – the Jewish
Sabbath – will be at best vigorously
berated; more likely their car will be
pelted. Pasted on the stone walls are
countless religious tracts. A huge
billboard in English reads: “To
women and girls. We beg you with all
our hearts: Please do not pass through
our neighbourhood in immodest
clothes.” Specific instructions follow
regarding length of sleeves and tight-
fitted garments. Non-Jews and
secular Jews are not made to feel
welcome. In recent months there have
been regular evening disturbances
involving young men setting fire to
rubbish bins and stoning police
officers in protest at infringements of
religious observance.
But the influence of ultra-orthodox
spreads beyond Mea Shearim. The
area of west Jerusalem in which I live
has a prosperous main street lined
with cafes and eclectic small shops.
The previous tenant of my apartment
told me that when he moved in four
years ago, Shabat was barely different
to any other day of the week. Now
the place is eerily deserted from
agreement between Israel and the
European Union.
Methodists in favour of boycotting
Israeli goods from what the General
Assembly of the United Nations
voted were “illegal settlements” in
2004 believe that disinvestment from
those settlements is one measure
among many that will help to
highlight injustice suffered in the
region and, by highlighting it, take a
step towards a just peace for Israelis
and Palestinians.
It is a decision that has caused pain.
Christine Elliott, Secretary for
External Relationships at the
Methodist Church, addressed the
Conference to express the distress felt
by senior representatives of the
British Jewish community whom she
met once the Methodist report
became a public document. One of
their profound concerns was with the
historical account of Israel and
Palestine presented in the report that
was written to resource yesterday’s
debate. The Revd Graham Carter,
chair of the working party that
compiled the report, acknowledged
the history was not complete and that,
given the time constraints for the
compilation of the report, the working
group had to present what it believed
was a fair selection from a variety of
narratives. The report’s historical
account is not Methodist Church
doctrine.
The conflict in Israel and Palestine is
not a one-sided conflict. The Israeli
sundown on Friday until sundown on
Saturday: shops are shuttered, cafes
closed, relatively few cars appear on
the normally clogged road. Secular
businesses have apparently
succumbed to pressure from the
religious lobby.
The lighter traffic on Shabat is,
however, a boon for me: it gives me
the chance to try to find my way
round this city without being
tailgated, honked at and shouted at by
fellow motorists. Jerusalem’s baffling
one-way systems, indecipherable road
markings and minuscule street signs
are currently exacerbated by a
massive project to build a light
railway through the city. Once
complete – allegedly by next year,
though nobody here believes that for
a moment – it should relieve the
burden of traffic thundering past
fragile historic sites. But this, too, has
a political dimension. The city
authorities say the railway will be
open to all, except when “security
considerations” require the stations in
Arab parts of the city to be closed.
We shall have to wait to see just how
often that happens.
At least the stop-start nature of the
traffic gives me the opportunity to
settlements internationally recognised
as illegal are not the only barrier to
peace. Arab terrorist organisations
and states intent on destroying Israel
are also a barrier to peace. Any
debate genuine about peace in the
region should take as its starting point
Israel’s right to exist and its right to
defend itself. Israel should not be
singled out above all other countries
for opprobrium and international
sanction.
The report received by the Methodist
Conference stated in its introduction:
“We continue to affirm the right of
the State of Israel to exist and that all
the inhabitants of Israel/Palestine are
entitled to their full human rights,
including the right to live in peace
and security and without the threat of
violence.” The Methodist Church has
a long history of interfaith
relationships; it greatly values the
relationship it shares with its Jewish
brothers and sisters and hopes that
that relationship will continue to
flourish.
The Methodist Conference also
passed a resolution commending all
people of the region to the loving care
of Almighty God and urged the
Methodist people to engage in
regular, informed prayer for the needs
of the Land of the Holy One. The
President of Conference, Revd Alison
Tomlin, asked Conference to pass this
particular resolution as a standing
vote and, from where I was watching,
everyone on the floor rose to their
stare in wonder at the sights and
views; from the beautiful golden
stone of the Old City ramparts to the
ugly dull grey concrete of the
imposing separation wall. At some
point, I assume, all this will become
the routine backdrop to my life, but I
hope I never take Jerusalem’s
extraordinariness for granted.
And the people? Each side is
passionate about their unassailable
right to the land. Each side has
suffered terrible injustices and
inhumanity over their history. Each
side is exhausted by conflict. And
each side wants to welcome me to
their country. “Baruch haba, shalom,”
say the Israelis. “Marhaban, salam,”
say the Palestinians. And, they all
add: “Good luck.”
• Israel
• Palestinian territories
• Judaism
• Islam
Harriet Sherwood
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Media Limited 2010 | Use of this
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Conditions| More Feeds
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• Religion
• Christianity
• Judaism
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• Palestinian territories
Karen Burke
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• Diaspora homecomings can
backfire | Khaled Diab A return to an
ancestral homeland is a dream that's
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troubling resultsThe Zionist vision of
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region the Israeli state reveals its own
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flotilla delivering humanitarian aid to
Gaza, kill...
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White Ten years after Bill Clinton
guided failed Israeli-Palestinian peace
talks, the idea of a negotiation on
equal terms is now defunctTen years
ago this month, Israelis and
Palestinians gathered at Camp ...
Original post source
• Diaspora homecomings can
backfire | Khaled Diab A return to an
ancestral homeland is a dream that's
long inspired diasporas – often with
troubling resultsThe Zionist vision of
a "return" to the promised land has
been both a dream come true and a
ni...
• Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian
prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit
Binyamin Netanyahu draws the line
at paying 'any price' for freedom of
soldier, who was abducted in
2006Israel's prime minister,
Binyamin Netanyahu, tonight
confirmed he was prepared to release
1,000 ...
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soldiers using debit cards stolen in
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spent on them, claim campaigners
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FeedJournal Basic
UK: Muslim pupils pulled out of music class
by Esther (Hija del Zion para
Israel - Daughter of Zion for
Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 3:06:00 AM
UK: Muslim pupils pulled out of
music class
The problem with this article is that
it doesn’t really differentiate between
Muslims who have a problem with
music, and Muslims who have a
problem with certain music
(Christmas musicals) or at certain
times (Ramadan).
———–
A number of schools are allowing
Muslim parents to pull their children
out of classes, even though the
subject is a formal part of the national
curriculum.
Dr Diana Harris, a lecturer at the
Open University, said she had visited
schools where half of pupils were
withdrawn from music during
Ramadan.
By law, children are supposed to take
part in all subjects and parents can
only remove children from sex and
religious education.
This article was prepared by the
Islam in Europe blog –
islamineurope.blogspot.com
But Dr Harris claimed Ofsted
inspectors sometimes turned “a blind
eye” to the issue.
In one London primary school, 20
pupils were removed from rehearsals
for a Christmas musical and one five-
year-old girl has been permanently
withdrawn from all classes.
The details emerged in a BBC
London News investigation.
Eileen Ross, head of Herbert
Morrison Primary in Lambeth, where
almost a third of children come from
mainly Somalian Muslim families,
said some parents “don’t want
children to play musical instruments
MORE
continued from page 3
teamed up with the anti-war entity
Appeal for Redress, whose members
include active-duty and reserve
soldiers. Emphasizing the group’s
military background, the resulting
campaign urged “political leaders in
Congress to support the prompt
withdrawal of all American military
forces and bases from Iraq.”
Other clients of Fenton
Communications have included the
AFL-CIO, America Coming
Together, Amnesty International, Air
America Radio, the Association of
Trial Lawyers of America (renamed
the American Association for Justice
in 2006), the NAACP, the Rainforest
Action Network, the Sierra Club,
Global Exchange, the Open Society
Institute, and Pew Charitable Trusts,
the Institute for Policy Studies, Ralph
Nader’s Public Citizen, People for the
American Way, Service Employees
International Union, Working Assets,
and they don’t have music in their
homes”.
“There’s been about 18 or 22 children
withdrawn from certain sessions, out
of music class, but at the moment I
just have one child who is withdrawn
continually from the music
curriculum,” she said. “It’s not part of
their belief, they feel it detracts from
their faith.”
There has been a debate in the
Muslim community about music and
singing, with some followers
claiming that they are forbidden. Dr
Harris, author of the book “Music
Education and Muslims”, told the
BBC: “Most of them really didn’t
know why they were withdrawing
their children.
the TransAfrica, the magazine In
These Times, the National Urban
League, the World Wildlife Fund, the
American Friends Service
Committee, Rock the Vote, School of
the Americas Watch, the Nature
Conservancy, Greenpeace, the Ford
Foundation, the Heinz Family
Foundation, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
the Turner Foundation, Ben and
Jerry’s Foundation, the Tides
Foundation, the Energy Foundation,
the Columbia Foundation, the David
and Lucile Packard Foundation, the
Joyce Foundation and the Iraq Policy
Information Project, among many
others.
FC also counts among its clients a
number of pro-Democrat law firms
such as Milberg, Weiss, Bershad,
Hynes & Lerach.
Arlie Schardt, a senior consultant at
Fenton Communications and
“The majority of them were doing it
because they had just learned that it
wasn’t acceptable and one of the
sources giving out that feeling was
the Imams particularly Imams who
had come over from Pakistan, didn’t
really speak English and felt
threatened.
“I think they were adhering to very
strict lines about what was
acceptable.
“At secondary level parents who
really object to music will be
withdrawing then and going to a
Muslim school. At primary schools in
some areas one or two permanently
withdrawn but at Ramadan I’ve been
to schools were 50 per cent of the
Muslim student population have been
Chairman of Environmental Media
Services, served as Al Gore’s national
press secretary during his first
presidential campaign.
Fenton Communications has
received financial support from the
Ford Foundation, the James Irvine
Foundation, the Joyce Foundation,
and the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation. ” From Discover the
Networks
Fenton is really bad news. Have
anymore dirt or info on them please
leave it as a comment. They need to
be stopped in there attempt to destroy
Israel. via avideditor.wordpress.com
Quoted by email using
noahdavidsimon’s posterous
Hija del Zion para Israel Support
Israel
• The lefty jihadi alliance is reveled.
Fenton the PR firm of the Left is now
hired by Dubia to smear Israel so it
could be destroyed by the jihadis
5
removed from music class for the
month.”
( more)
Matthew Wilkinson, a spokesman for
the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)
said: “At a guesstimate I say it will
involve about 10% of the Muslim
community.”
Asked if this involved hundreds of
pupils, he said: “Yes, you might be
looking at that sort of figure.”
“The MCB wants Muslim children to
take benefit of the full range of
educational possibilities, including
music.”
( more)
Sources: Telegraph, BBC
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• London: “We will never give up …
until you are subdued to the law of
Sharia” London: "We will never give
up ... until you are subdued to the law
of Sharia"Sharia4Belgium/Muslim
Rise were not allowed to protest in
Brussels as planned, but their friends
in the UK and Ireland sho...
• UK: ‘Islam Channel’ accused of
encouraging marital rape and
intolerance UK: 'Islam Channel'
accused of encouraging marital rape
and intoleranceBritain's leading
Muslim TV channel was accused of
encouraging “marital rape” and
promoting other intolerant views of
women in a...
• UK: Fears over non-Muslim’s use
of Islamic law to resolve disputes
UK: Fears over non-Muslim's use of
Islamic law to resolve
disputesNobody would accuse the
Muslim Arbitration Council (MAT)
of being Islamophobic, and yet I can't
really understand why it runs to the
p...
Original post source
What is Arianna Huffington Telling
David Fenton?Know Fenton? They
are the left wing PR group that
promoted and made Cindy Sehan
famous. Bacaily they are the biggest
lefty PR company. Guess who there
n...
• The Perfect Pitch with PR Icon
Howard J. Rubenstein Today's blog
comes from Rachel Weiss, our
development colleague, who is the
Assistant Director of Development
for Young Leadership & Donor
Relations.Wednesday night the
Young Friends Division of t...
Original post source
6 FeedJournal Basic
"Fayyad is not building a state" – Nathan Brown
vs. Thomas Friedman
by Elder of Ziyon (Hija del Zion
para Israel - Daughter of Zion
for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 3:38:00 AM
Right on the heels of my post about
how the vaunted Palestinian Arab
state building is really an illusion
comes a much more authoritative
article saying the same thing.
Nathan Brown, writing in Foreign
Policy magazine a shortened version
of a paper he wrote for the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace,
shows in detail what is happening on
the ground in the PA. He analyzes
both the successes and failures of the
PA in building a state – and the
failures outnumber the successes. To
be sure, most of the failures are due
to the difficult political environment
in which Fayyad is working – often
against Fatah.
A quote from the paper:
A dispassionate analysis reveals that
rather than building institutions,
Fayyad’s cabinet is reviving some of
them and attempting to inject
elements of greater competence and
efficiency in selected bureaucratic
locations. This is then a program of
improved public administration rather
U.K.: Muslims withdrawing children from music
classes because they’re "un-Islamic"
by Marisol (Hija del Zion para
Israel - Daughter of Zion for
Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:03:12 AM
U.K.: Muslims withdrawing children
from music classes because they’re
“un-Islamic”“Some Muslims believe
that playing musical instruments and
singing is forbidden according to
Islam.”
And where would they have gotten
that idea? What kind of repressed
killjoy would spread that sort of
thinking around?
Why, Muhammad: “The Prophet said
that Allah commanded him to destroy
all the musical instruments, idols,
crosses and all the trappings of
ignorance” (Hadith Qudsi 19:5).
As the hadith indicates, the ban on
music, as distasteful as it is by itself,
is part of a much broader agenda, and
thus a symptom of a much broader
problem regarding the widespread
unwillingness of Muslim immigrants
in Europe to assimilate as equals in
society, rather than as a privileged
class whose every whim and hangup
must be accommodated — or else.
And as is the case with the general
than a statebuilding effort.
But is there any harm in the
boosterism about “Fayyadism?”
Yes. The international infatuation
with the effort obscures two
extremely unhealthy developments,
both of them tied to the schism in
Palestinian politics—the effort is
predicated on the denial of
democracy and human rights, and it is
bypassing (and perhaps even
enabling) the further deterioration in
Palestinian institutions that lie outside
of the realm of government. The
Palestinian political system is deeply
troubled; Fayyadism does not address
the crisis. At best it manages
administration in the face of crisis; at
worst it allows international and
domestic actors to ignore it—for now.
His conclusion from the FP article:
Fayyad is not building a state, he’s
holding down the fort until the next
crisis. And when that crisis comes,
Fayyad’s cabinet has no democratic
legitimacy or even an organized
constituency to fall back on. What he
does have — contrary to those who
laud him for not relying on outsiders
— is an irreplaceable reservoir of
international respectability. The
message of “Fayyadism” is clear, and
issue of Islamic supremacism (as well
as jihad doctrine), few will want to
acknowledge that this display of
hostility toward music education has
anything to do with Islam. “Muslim
pupils taken out of music lessons
‘because Islam forbids playing an
instrument’,” by Laura Clark for the
Daily Mail, July 1 (thanks to all who
sent this in):
Muslim pupils are being withdrawn
from music lessons because some
families believe learning an
instrument is anti-Islamic, it emerged
today.
An investigation has discovered that
Muslim pupils are being taken out of
school music classes even though the
subject is a compulsory part of the
national curriculum.
While parents have legal rights to
withdraw children from religious and
sex education classes, no automatic
right exists to pull them out of
subjects such as music.
One education expert said that up to
half of Muslim pupils were
withdrawn from music lessons during
Ramadan.
And The Muslim Council of Britain
said music lessons were likely to be
it is personal: if Salam Fayyad is
prime minister, wealthy international
donors will keep the PA solvent, pay
salaries to its employees, fund its
infrastructural development, and even
put gentle pressure on Israel to ease
up its tight restrictions on movement
and access.
Fayyad may be a good person, but
finding a good person is not a policy.
If he is making mild administrative
and fiscal improvements in some
areas, this cannot obscure the deeper
problem that most Palestinian
political institutions are actually in
deep trouble and the most important
ones are in a state of advanced decay.
This is real research, of someone
spending significant time on the
ground in the West Bank and talking
to a wide variety of people about the
details of the PA’s performance.
This is in stark contrast to the the
facile cheerleading of NYT’s Thomas
Friedman who wrote this week:
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the
former World Bank economist … has
unleashed a real Palestinian
“revolution.” It is a revolution based
on building Palestinian capacity and
institutions not just resisting Israeli
occupation, on the theory that if the
unacceptable to around 10 per cent of
the Muslim population in Britain.
However, in certain branches of
Islam – such as Sufism, which is
dominant in Pakistan and India –
devotional music and singing is
actually central to the religion.
A BBC investigation found that in
one London primary school, 20 pupils
were removed from rehearsals for a
Christmas musical and one five-year-
old girl remains permanently
withdrawn from mainstream music
classes.
Some Muslims believe that playing
musical instruments and singing is
forbidden according to Islam.
At Herbert Morrison Primary in
Lambeth, 29 per cent of children
come from mainly Somalian Muslim
families.
Headmistress Eileen Ross said some
parents ‘don’t want children to play
musical instruments and they don’t
have music in their homes’. …
Posted by Marisol on July 2, 2010
12:03 AM
| 1 Comment
Print this entry
| Email this entry
| Digg this
Palestinians can build a real
economy, a professional security
force and an effective, transparent
government bureaucracy it will
eventually become impossible for
Israel to deny the Palestinians a state
in the West Bank and Arab
neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
Brown’s analysis is methodical,
Friedman’s is wishful. It is a shame
that so many in the West rely on
Friedman for their facts – oblivious to
the danger of making policy decisions
on the basis of his vaunted expertise.
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• Messianic Rabbi shares how he
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Original post source
| del.icio.us
|
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• Israel’s Gaza blockade targets
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today was trying to break the naval
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u n l o a d e d w e a p o n s
. . .
• The Jewish View on Capital
Punishment Learn about Judaism's
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w w w . g a n s k o k i e .
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FeedJournal Basic
Fayyadism isn’t state building
by Carl in Jerusalem (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 2:27:00 AM
Fayyadism isn’t state building
Foreign Policy, which is generally
deferential and supportive of the
‘Palestinians,’ has a scathing review
of Salam Fayyad’s ’state building’ in
Judea and Samaria. The review – by
Nathan Brown of the University of
Chicago – argues that Fayyad is
maintaining existing institutions
rather than building new ones, that
his ‘reforms’ are only possible of the
current lack of democracy in the
‘Palestinian Authority’ (a democracy
that Brown asserts existed between
1996 and 2006), and that no one in
the ‘Palestinian Authority’ believes
that Fayyad is building the
institutions of a future ’state.’ Here’s
his bottom line.
Fayyad is not building a state, he’s
holding down the fort until the next
crisis. And when that crisis comes,
Fayyad’s cabinet has no democratic
legitimacy or even an organized
constituency to fall back on. What he
does have — contrary to those who
laud him for not relying on outsiders
— is an irreplaceable reservoir of
international respectability. The
message of “Fayyadism” is clear, and
it is personal: if Salam Fayyad is
prime minister, wealthy international
donors will keep the PA solvent, pay
salaries to its employees, fund its
infrastructural development, and even
put gentle pressure on Israel to ease
up its tight restrictions on movement
Netanyahu calls for direct negotiations with the
‘Palestinians’
by Carl in Jerusalem (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 3:39:00 AM
Netanyahu calls for direct
negotiations with the ‘Palestinians’
Prime Minister Netanyahu used a
speech at the US embassy’s July 4
celebration in Tel Aviv to call yet
again for direct negotiations between
himself and‘moderate’ ‘ Palestinian’
President Mahmoud Abbas Abu
Mazen.
After mentioning an upcoming
meeting with US President Barack
Obama next week and the pending
round of sanctions against Iran,
Netanyahu spoke about his
willingness to pursue peace with the
Palestinians.
“The only way to complete peace
negotiations are to begin them. And
the only way to begin them are to
have the two parties sit across from
one another and directly negotiate
these complex issues together.
“Let’s not wait 15 months before we
sit down together. This is a great
hope, and a great challenge.”
and access.
Fayyad may be a good person, but
finding a good person is not a policy.
If he is making mild administrative
and fiscal improvements in some
areas, this cannot obscure the deeper
problem that most Palestinian
political institutions are actually in
deep trouble and the most important
ones are in a state of advanced decay.
I would take it a step further. There
is no sense in pursuing ‘proximity
talks’ or any other kind of talks with
Israel until the ‘Palestinians’ get their
act together and choose leaders.
Suppose a ‘Palestinian state’ were
formed tomorrow. Who would lead
it? Abu Mazen has no legitimacy.
Fayyad’s legitimacy comes from the
quartet and not from the
‘Palestinians.’ If the ‘Palestinians’
were to hold elections, whom would
they elect? And would the party they
elect be trustworthy to abide by
whatever security guarantees Israel
manages to negotiate, and to
perpetuate those security guarantees
to a successor to whom power is
handed peacefully once they are no
longer in power?
Obviously, we cannot answer the last
two questions until we have answers
to the previous questions. But until
In closing, Netanyahu wished a “Hag
Sameach” on behalf of citizens of
Israel to the American people for the
fourth of July.
I would hope (and believe) that
Netanyahu realizes that direct
negotiations with the ‘Palestinians’
will not go any further than the
‘proximity talks’ have gone. After all,
Abu Mazen cannot accept any less
the last two questions can be
answered affirmatively, Israel would
be suicidal to agree to the
establishment of a ‘Palestinian state.’
Right now, those last two questions
cannot be answered at all. So why are
we involved in ‘proximity talks’?
They are a waste of time and raise
expectations that don’t deserve to be
held and that endanger our (Israel’s)
security in the long run.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:27
PM
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• Violent anti-Semitic acts DOUBLE
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violent acts against Jews more than
doubled in 2009 as compared with
2008. And while there is an effort
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Original post source
than what both he (in 2008) and
Yasser Arafat (in 2000 and 2001)
turned down, and Netanyahu cannot
offer anywhere near that much
because there is no support for it in
Israel. But by repeating the call for
direct talks, Netanyahu is pushing the
ball into Abu Mazen’s court.
Therefore, the call for direct talks
should be repeated over and over
7
Muslim pupils taken out
of music lessons
‘because Islam forbids
playing an instrument’
by NoahDavidSimon (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:30:00 AM
Muslim pupils are being withdrawn
from music lessons because some
families believe learning an
instrument is anti-Islamic.
The move comes despite the subject
being a compulsory part of the
national curriculum.
While parents have legal rights to
withdraw children from religious and
sex education classes, no automatic
right exists to pull them out of lessons
such as music.
Pupils in a music class at a primary
school: Some Muslim families have
withdrawn children for religious
reasons
One education expert said up to half
of Muslim pupils were withdrawn
from music lessons during Ramadan.
And The Muslim Council of Britain
said music lessons were likely to be
MUSLIM page 8
again and at every opportunity.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:39
PM
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• Martin Amis Christopher Hitchens
a conversation about Antisemitism
and Saul bellow Part 3 Martin Amis
in conversation with Christopher
Hitchens Martin Amis talks to
Christopher Hitchens about Saul
Bellow with whom he developed an
intimate friendship, about t...
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organization. Given that he’s from
nor...
Original post source
8 FeedJournal Basic
Europe’s Nazi obsession
by Carl in Jerusalem (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:02:00 AM
Europe’s Nazi obsession Europe is
condemning Israel at every turn
because it is seeking absolution for its
actions during the Holocaust argues
Benjamin Weinthal.
The widespread condemnation
Europeans have expressed toward
Israel after its commandos boarded
the so-called peace flotilla on May 31
– and used force only when
threatened with death – signals a
desire to turn every Israeli action of
self-defense into absolution for the
crimes of the Holocaust.
… anti-Zionism.”
The Europeans’ vicious attacks on
Israel are animated less by the Jewish
state’s foreign policy than by
Europe’s ongoing fixation on the
Holocaust. What else could explain
the presence of posters equating
Israel with Nazi Germany at pro-
Hamas demonstrations in Vienna?
According to one recent German
university study, 45.7 percent of the
European respondents supported the
contention that “Israel is conducting a
war of extermination against the
Palestinians.”
In their eyes, apparently, maintaining
a naval blockade against a
government sworn to destroy you –
while providing the unfortunate
people living under that government
with tens of thousands of tons of
supplies and humanitarian aid – now
equates to looting and butchering six
million people.
Wolfgang Benz, the controversial
director of the Berlin Center for the
study of anti-Semitism, neatly
summed up this incongruity on
German television when he insisted
that “anti-Semitism is different from
MUSLIM
continued from page 7
unacceptable to around ten per cent of
the Muslim population in Britain.
However, in certain branches of
Islam – such as Sufism, which is
dominant in Pakistan and India –
devotional music and singing is
actually central to the religion.
A BBC investigation found that in
one London primary school, 20
pupils were removed from rehearsals
for a Christmas musical and one five
-year-old girl remains permanently
withdrawn from mainstream music
classes.
Some Muslims believe that playing
musical instruments and singing is
forbidden according to Islam.
At Herbert Morrison Primary in
Lambeth, 29 per cent of children
come from mainly Somalian Muslim
families. Headmistress Eileen Ross
said some parents ‘don’t want
children to play musical instruments
Benz embraces the European wish to
alleviate guilt by denying the weight
of the Holocaust. (As the head of a
center for the study of anti-Semitism,
he’s a particularly strange case; the
German political scientist Clemens
Heni discovered that Benz’s beloved
academic mentor was the now-
deceased Karl Bosl, an outspoken
Nazi who contributed enormously to
spreading Hitler’s ideology.)
Of course, nothing Israel has ever
done can even begin to compare to
the crimes of the Shoah. But to help
alleviate their feelings of guilt,
Europeans delegitimize Israel, ignore
modern anti-Semitism, and portray
Muslims – who number over one
billion and whom no one seeks to
eradicate from the earth – as the new
persecuted Jews of Europe.
It gets worse. Read the whole thing.
Someone in the comments earlier
this week objected to my new
European Union flag (pictured). This
article shows that the flag is even
closer to reality than I thought it was.
Europe is obsessed with finding a
way to blame the Jews for Auschwitz.
and they don’t have music in their
homes’.
One girl remains permanently
withdrawn from the school’s music
curriculum, which consists of a
government-backed project to learn
instruments such as the violin.
‘There’s been about 18 or 22 children
withdrawn from certain sessions, out
of music class, but at the moment I
just have one child who is withdrawn
continually from the music
curriculum,’ Mrs Ross told the BBC.
‘It’s not part of their belief, they feel
it detracts from their faith.’ Ofsted
and education experts raised concerns
over the findings.
The Open University’s Dr Diana
Harris, an expert on music education
and Muslims, said she had visited
schools where half of the pupils were
withdrawn from music lessons by
their parents during Ramadan.
What could go wrong?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:02
AM
Hija del Zion para Israel Support
Israel
• The Torah in Haiku: Ki Tisa by Ed
NickowTemple Chai, Long Grove,
IL(Originally published in The Torah
in Haiku) G-d does some
hiringBetzalel, OholiabThe Mishkan
builders But the work must
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expert Dr. Morder Krankenhaus)
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Original post source
‘Most of them really didn’t know
why they were withdrawing their
children,’ she told the BBC. ‘The
majority of them were doing it
because they had just learned that it
wasn’t acceptable and one of the
sources giving out that feeling was
the Imams.’
A spokesman for Ofsted said: ‘Music
is an important part of any child or
young person’s education. Any
examples of pupils being treated
unequally would be a matter of
significant concern.’ via
dailymail.co.uk Quoted: Muslim
pupils are being withdrawn from
music lessons because some families
believe learning an instrument is anti-
Islamic. The move comes despite
the subject being a compulsory part
of the national curriculum. While
parents have legal rights to withdraw
children from religious and sex
Mavi Marmara:
the Massacre That
Will Not Die
by Richard Silverstein (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 1:42:46 AM
Mavi Marmara in Haifa harbor
A reader whose friend has a
sweeping Mt. Carmel view of Haifa
harbor from his/her home took this
recent shot of the Mavi Marmara,
which has been towed to Haifa from
Ashdod, where it was originally
brought after being captured by the
Israeli navy.
The flotilla attack is the disaster that
keeps on giving in terms of the
negative fallout it provides Israel.
Haaretz reports that at the urging of
Barack Obama Bibi secretly sent an
Israeli minister to negotiate a
resolution of the outstanding issues
dividing Israel and Turkey over the
massacre. The Turks are demanding
an apology (that would be the second
one, since Danny Ayalon made the
Turkish ambassador sit in a baby
chair in order to demean him),
victim’s compensation, and an end to
the Gaza siege.
Turkey also seems to be ratcheting
up the pressure by issuing a new
threat to withdraw the right of
commercial flights to pass through its
MAVI page 9
education … using
noahdavidsimon’s posterous
Hija del Zion para Israel Support
Israel
• Zohar Convention 2010, Lesson 7
Lecturer: Rav Michael LaitmanDate:
2010-02-24Video: ENG 98.88MB
Audio: ENG 17.62MB ...
• Breaking and Entering Abortedby
Noah David Simon...
• Functional Light G-d did not give
you light that you may hold it up in
the middle of the day. When you are
given light it is in order to accomplish
something,
Original post source
FeedJournal Basic
MAVI
continued from page 8
airspace. This would be a very strong
slap in Israel’s face as it would have
practical repercussions for Israeli
flights to Europe.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
found out about the meeting and had
a monumental hissy-fit declaring for
all the world to see that Bibi was not
nice to him and that if he didn’t shape
up he might, just might, take Yisrael
Beiteinu’s marbles and play
elsewhere. All just a technical error
on his office’s part, explained the
prime minister. It will all be cleared
up in a private meeting between the
two. However, a wounded Yvet is
not taking Bibi’s calls just yet. Make
the big guy stew a little seems to be
the idea.
Haaretz also reports that the IDF
investigation of the attack headed by
Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland may be more
critical than expected. In an Israeli
context, that seems to mean very
little. But who knows, we might be
surprised by the outcome. Even in
Catalonia: Parliament rejects burka
ban
by Esther (Hija del Zion para
Israel - Daughter of Zion for
Israel)
Submitted at 7/1/2010 11:56:00 PM
Catalonia: Parliament rejects burka
ban
Catalonia’s parliament rejected
Thursday a move to ban the wearing
of the Islamic burqa in public places
across the Spanish region after
reversing an initial vote.
A resolution moved by conservatives
and centre-right nationalists was
passed, but opponents said there had
been a technical error and some
absentees at the moment of the vote.
After the session was suspended, the
parliamentary speaker ordered the
vote to be put again, prompting a
walk-out by the motion’s supporters
and a victory for its left-wing
opponents.
This article was prepared by the
Islam in Europe blog –
Ha-Dibbur Ha-Ivri / Hebrew Speech
by paraisrael (Hija del Zion
para Israel - Daughter of Zion
for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 4:20:19 AM
hebrew images:
Ha-Dibbur Ha-Ivri / Hebrew Speech
Image by Center for Jewish History,
NYC
Capitol City Hebrew School in St.
Paul
Image by Jewish Historical Society
of the Upper Midwest
Biblical Sodom there was at least one
honest man.
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The motion would have called on the
government of the northeastern
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by NoahDavidSimon (Hija del
promise impartial inquiries, they Zion para Israel - Daughter of
express remorse to t... Zion for Israel)
Original post source Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:24:00 AM
A Hamas spokesman told the BBC’s
Arabic service on Thursday night that
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
is responsible for ‘ killing‘ a deal to
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Quoted: A Hamas spokesman told the
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israelmatzav.blogspot.com … using
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10
Dresden: City commemorates ‘veil
martyr’
by Esther (Hija del Zion para
Israel - Daughter of Zion for
Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 1:33:00 AM
Dresden: City commemorates ‘veil
martyr’
The city of Dresden on Thursday
paid its respects to a pregnant
Egyptian woman who was stabbed to
death in a courtroom one year ago in
a racially motivated crime that
outraged the Muslim world.
Officials including Saxon Justice
Minister Jürgen Martens honoured
the memory of 31-year-old Marwa El
-Sherbini, dubbed the “veil martyr,”
with a plaque to serve as a warning
against racism.
This article was prepared by the
Islam in Europe blog –
islamineurope.blogspot.com
“One year ago all of us were forced to
realise the deadly logic of the hatred
of foreigners,” said Martens, adding
that the murder had shaken “Dresden,
Germany and the entire world.”
WELT
Members of the local Muslim
community took part in the ceremony
and a commemorative march was
held later in the day.
(…)
The murder, as well as the slow
reaction of Germany’s politicians and
media, sparked outrage in Sherbini’s
home country, as well as in the wider
Muslim world.
“This deed will not be forgotten,”
Global warming Armageddon
postponed for 200 years
by NoahDavidSimon (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:36:00 AM
The polar bears are saved! The polar
bears are saved!
You pretty much knew the global
warming scare was petering out when
Al Gore bought a beach front house
near Santa Barbara. Now global
warming scientists have confirmed
that the oceans won’t be lapping at
his front door anytime soon.
The Independent UK has the hot
news on global warming:
The 14 scientists, all experts in their
fields of climate research, were asked
about the probability of a tipping
point being reached some time before
2200 if global warming continued on
the course of the worst-case scenarios
predicted by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Nine of the fourteen scientists said
that the chances of a tipping point for
the high scenario were greater than 90
per cent, with only one saying that the
said Dresden Mayor Helma Orosz.
( more)
Source: The Local
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• Germany: ‘Immigrants making
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• Basel: Woman attacked for wearing
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2200? The global warming narrative
has completely fallen apart. It used to
be that they tried to scare us by
saying our children would all die
from global warming. Now it’s been
delayed to our great, great, great,
great, great grandchildren.
(By the way, we love the last line of
that story. Doesn’t matter that even
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for 200 years, the Independent says
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FeedJournal Basic
Kill A Jew
Day On
Facebook
by NoahDavidSimon (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 12:18:00 AM
Among the comments:
Lol this is so funny you guys are
taking it so seriously. This is
probably another racist joke which
we encounter every day. However, if
it is in fact serious, then it is just sad
and horrible.
Just a joke–just like “ Kick A Jew
Day” was last year? via
daledamos.blogspot.com
I wasn’t invited Quoted by email
using noahdavidsimon’s posterous
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Force(The Register) Facebook
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success using JewishGen to locate my
TABAKIN family that was separated
by the Holocaust. (You can read that
article here). This encouraged me to
continu...
Original post source
FeedJournal Basic
‘Kill a Jew day’ on
Facebook
by Carl in Jerusalem (Hija del
Zion para Israel - Daughter of
Zion for Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 1:13:00 AM
‘Kill a Jew day’ on Facebook July 9 –
next Friday – has been declared ‘ Kill
a Jew day’ on Facebook.
This ‘event’ was set up by someone
in Singapore – not an Arab, Muslim
or even European country.
Please report the event to Facebook
in the hope that they will remove it.
Anyone still think this is ‘just’ about
Israel?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:13
AM
Hija del Zion para Israel Support
Israel
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Original post source
11
Ask AP: Turkey and
Israel, Haiti’s slow
progress
by israel (Hija del Zion para
Israel - Daughter of Zion for
Israel)
Submitted at 7/2/2010 3:11:00 AM
AP An enormous amount of money
has been sent to Haiti to help the
country recover from its devastating
earthquake. So why has so little
changed in Haiti – from …
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